Page 4 of Death Comes for Her
“Does she look fairy, Captain Eryx?” the third asked.
“I’m almost inclined to say yes. She’s quite lovely.” His sour breath brushed against my face. A broken sob wrenched from my lips. “There’s a slight arch to her ears and her hair is a lovely golden blonde. But without wings, how can we be sure?”
The other five vampires laughed cruelly, knowing what came next.
His gloved hand tangled in the back of my clothing. In one powerful tug, the fabric ripped apart. Frigid air whisked across my exposed back.
“No!” I shouted. With another burst of energy, I squirmed in his hold. I struggled to get away again, kicking and screaming.
He laughed. A cold, dead sound that stopped my heart.
“Would you look at this?” He ran a gauntlet clad finger over my spine. A nasty chill shook my body at the frozen metal on my skin. An agonized wail escaped me when he traced the scars on my back.
“By the Maker!” The third vampire sharply gasped.
“I haven’t had fairy blood since the end of the war, captain.” Another one of the fiends injected, audibly smacking his lips. “My mouth is watering just looking at her.”
“Hm,” the one holding me forced me around again. He pulled my hair higher to scrutinize my face. “No. We won’t be having this one.”
“But we found her!” the soldier argued.
Captain Enyx scoffed. He dropped my hair, only to grab my waist. His tone hardened, snarling as he threw me over a saddle on my stomach. “Round up a dozen humans from the village. This one, however, will be a gift. She’s got three sets of scars. Important enough to take in.”
“A gift?” The second vampire questioned.
“On your best behavior, boys, we’re going to the Ambrose Manor.” Captain Enyx snickered. He leapt up after me, mockingly patting my ass.
“No, no, please!” I wriggled, fighting to get down.
“Shut up!” Captain Enyx shoved a wad of stinking fabric into my mouth. Rivers of salty tears washed down my face as I sobbed, the sound muffled now. He pulled out a rope to tie up my flailing limbs next.
“You think they’ll reward us for bringing them a fairy?” The second soldier pulled his horse into step with the captain as the others rode back to the village to join the rest of their horde in savagery.
“I know they will. There aren’t many of her kind left. She’ll make a pretty little treat for them, and I’ll get the promotion I deserve.”
The rest of their conversation fell deaf in my ears. Over the thundering of horses galloping for the main road and the pounding against my skull, I heard nothing. Through the waning fog and my blurry tears, I watched helplessly as the farm shrank behind us.
After ten years of hiding in the world the vampires conquered, they had me in their grasp. Worst of all, they were taking me to their rulers’ fiercest generals. The Maker of the Ambrose coven reigned supreme since winning the war. The vampire soldiers would serve me up to their top generals on a golden platter.
And I regretted not jumping when I had the chance.
Chapter 2
If it was a lust for life that kept one alive, why the fuck was I still breathing?
I had no desire to maintain my situation, and less to wake the next morning. After two days of riding trussed up in ropes on the back of a vampire’s horse, I prayed to any gods that might be listening for them to slip up and drain me of every last drop in my veins.
It hadn’t taken long for the vampires to give in to their craving for my blood. For two grueling days and nights, Captain Eryx permitted his men to sample my blood every time they paused to camp. Vampires didn’t need to sleep during daylight hours since the sun’s consumption, but their bodies still required a far too brief death-like rest. When they weren’t resting, they were sinking their fangs into my limbs and fucking each other.
Too drained of blood to function, I slipped from consciousness time and time again. The journey to Ambrose Manor became a blur. Sickening lurching motions from the swaying horse. Sour breath on my skin and the sting of fangs. Wandering hands before the captain pulled them away.
And the venom… too much vampire venom coursing through my blood and polluting my thoughts.
It made me ache—a betraying ache that my traitorous body began to crave with sickening tenacity. Despite the bile in mystomach and the assaulting pain in my head, my core clenched and my heart sped up with a newfound longing for the effects of their venom.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I held the memories of how vampire and fair folk were sickly matched with one another. Our blood ran gold, permanent sunshine coursing through our bodies. Vampires couldn’t stand in the sun, but they could drink from us, and fairy blood was like a drug to them. Addictive. Intoxicating.
And the venom their bites injected, meant to paralyze and placate human victims, reacted differently in blood of gold. It had a similar effect as my blood did to them. It was a drug with sinful and undesirable consequences.
